“Bryan wrestled a nice match,” said Van Kley. “He closed the gap in the third period and almost fought all the way back. It was a strong finish.

“We just need to find a way to win more of those close matches.”

Next up for Central is a rescheduled nonconference bout against William Penn University (0-2 overall) Tuesday at Oskaloosa. The two teams were originally slated to wrestle Feb. 4, but the dual was postponed due to inclement weather. The Dutch and Statesmen last dueled in 2007.

Following Tuesday’s dual, Central will play host to Simpson College (3-13 overall, 0-7 conference) for the second time in eight days as part of the Iowa Conference dual finals.

“Next week is another big week,” Van Kley said. “We have two big duals and we’ll be ready for those. We’re a resilient team and we’ll bounce back.”